AT COURTSIDE: Bowman and Krug play like leaders

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Penn men's basketball team knew it had to come home with two wins over Columbia and Cornell this past weekend. A loss in either game would have eliminated the Quakers from the Ivy League title race. Considering the championship implications of the weekend, it is inexplicable as to how 11 of the 13 players who made the trip failed to put together four consistent halves. But whenever the team seemed close to losing a lead, one of the two senior co-captains, Tim Krug and Ira Bowman, would, without fail, step forward and play like the stars that they are. In Friday's contest at Columbia, Krug exploded for a career-high 27 points. But Krug was equally dominant on the defensive end, holding Lions center Jim Tubridy to no points on 0-for-1 shooting in 30 minutes of action. In fact, the next day at Cornell, Krug again held the starting center, Jeffrion Aubry scoreless, although Big Red forward Eddie Samuel played much of the game at center with Aubry plagued with four fouls. It was the third straight game that he had held the opposing center to zero points, going back to last Saturday's dominating performance over Dartmouth's Brian Gilpin. Despite Krug's efforts, Saturday was Bowman's night. The 6-foot-5 guard erupted for a career-best performance of his own, scoring 30 points, as the Quakers again called on its saving grace -- senior leadership. Take away Bowman 12-of-17 performance from the field, and Penn shot a miserable 31.7 percent from the floor. "Ira Bowman played fantastic, and it seemed like Tim Krug got every rebound," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "But you expect that of seniors and the leadership they have provided all year long. So that wasn't surprising." In the two weekend performances, the Quakers showed tremendous inconsistency -- relying on late first-half or early-second-half spurts to keep them afloat. While the runs effectively put the two games out of reach, both coach Fran Dunphy and the players agreed it is not a healthy habit that the team has gotten into. "We're just in this kind of lull -- we're playing well in stretches, and not so well in stretches," Dunphy said. "I think that's our biggest problem. "We've been playing in spurts at times, and we certainly need to be a lot more consistent as a basketball team. You'd like to think that at this late date we're approaching consistency, but we've been winning games by those spurts." But Tim Krug did not earn three Ivy championships rings without learning a thing or two about pulling out pressure games. At the Levien Gymnasium in New York, the Red and Blue again went through its trademark first-half slump, although the Quakers did go into the locker room with a five-point lead. As a team the Quakers shot better than 48 percent for the half. But take away Krug's 7-of-11 showing, and Penn hit only 37 percent of its attempts. In the Cornell game, Bowman took over, scoring 20 points in the second half alone. But Bowman says he didn't do it alone. "I credit that to my big men," he said. "I think Tim, Paul, those guys did a great job getting me open. I was happy to be making a couple shots tonight, but I think I wouldn't be able to make those shots if it hadn't been for my teammates stepping up and getting me open and giving me the ball from where I could score." The Quakers did get strong performances from some other players, but not over two halves for two games. Senior guard Donald Moxley put up 17 points against Columbia, and senior forward Cedric Laster went 3-for-3 from three-point range in the first half of the Cornell game. But Moxley slipped to eight points against the Big Red. And Laster was held scoreless in the second half of Saturday's affair. But Penn can ill afford another inconsistent effort against Princeton come Tuesday. "I haven't given [our inconsistency] any thought," Dunphy said. "But they're a great basketball team, and we're going to have to play well to win the game on Tuesday." And that "we" will have to include more than just Krug and Bowman.